WestPoint Stevens Continues Eight-Point Program

WestPoint Stevens Continues Eight-Point Program WestPoint Stevens Inc., West Point, Ga., announced
plans to close its Seneca, S.C., sheeting plant, which has been in operation since 1898. The
decision is part of the continuation of WestPoints Eight-Point Program, and the expense associated
with this initiative was included in the $195 million pretax restructuring charge announced in June
2000. Some 468 employees will be affected, although a limited number will move to jobs at other
nearby WestPoint Stevens plants.Because of significant modernization in the company, we are now
able to consolidate manufacturing into facilities that provide the most efficient work flow, and
the production at Seneca is no longer necessary, said Lanny L. Bledsoe, senior vice president,
manufacturing.Weve also gained more capacity in our overall operations through technological
advances, so that we no longer need the physical capacity we once required, Bledsoe continued. And
our Eight-Point Program calls for us to source both components and finished goods from outside
production when it makes more sense for us to buy than to make them, he added.
March 2001